Directory_and_Chronicle_1897 — Page 236

Directories & Chronicles 香港指南 All

NINGPO

Ningpo is situated on the river Yung, in the province of Chekiang, in lat. 29 deg. 55 min. N., and long. 121 deg. 22 min. E. It was one of the five ports thrown open to foreigners in 1842. Foreigners had, however, visited Ningpo at an early date. Portuguese traded there in 1522; a number of them settled in the place in that and succeeding years, and there was every prospect of a rising and successful settlement soon being established. But the lawless acts of the Portuguese soon attracted the attention of the Government, and in 1542 the Governor of Chekiang ordered the settlement to be destroyed and the population to be exterminated. A large force of Chinese troops soon besieged the place, destroying it entirely, and out of a population of 1,200 Portuguese, 800 were massacred. No further attempt at trade with this port was made till towards the close of the 17th century, when the East India Company established a factory at the island of Chusan, some forty miles from Ningpo. The attempt to found a trade mart there, however, proved unsatisfactory, and the factory was abandoned after a very few years' trial. The port was deserted by foreigners for many years after that. When hostilities broke out between Great Britain and China in 1839, the fleet moved north from Canton, and on the 13th October, 1841, occupied Ningpo, and an English garrison was stationed there for some time. In March, 1842, an attempt was made by the Chinese to retake the city, but the British artillery repulsed them with great slaughter. Ningpo was evacuated on May 7th, and, on the proclamation of peace in the following August, the port was thrown open to foreign trade.

Ningpo is built on a plain, which stretches away to a considerable distance on either side. It is a walled city, the walls enclosing a space of some five miles in cir- cumference. The walls are built of brick, and are about twenty-five feet high. They are fifteen feet wide at the summit, and twenty-two at the base. Access is obtained to the town by six gates. A large moat commences at the north gate and runs along the foot of the wall for about three miles on the landward side, until it stops at what is called the Bridge Gate. The main street runs from east to west. Several of the streets are spanned by arches erected in memory of distinguished natives. Ningpo has been celebrated as possessing the fourth library of Chinese works, in point of numbers, which existed in the empire. It was owned by a family who resided near the south gate. The site occupied by the foreign residences is on the north bank of the river. The population of Ningpo is estimated at 255,000.

The foreign trade at Ningpo has never been large. This is owing to a considerable extent to the proximity of Shanghai; the native guilds preventing direct dealings with foreigners. The net quantity of Opium imported in 1895 was 5,161 piculs, as compared with 5,565 piculs in 1894. Of Tea, there were 190,473 piculs exported in 1895, and 162,721 in 1894. The total value of the trade of the port was Tls. 16,525,955 in 1895, and Tls. 14,599,757 in 1894.

BUTTERFIELD & SWIRE, Merchants

D. Nesbitt (absent)

J. R. Greaves

Agencies

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